Last Thursday Drill Fight is Not as Exciting as it Sounds in This Headline

Last Thursday parking snafus have long been a thorn in the side of Alberta Arts District neighbors. Not until last night, however, had they devolved into combat with a power drill.

According to cops, 37-year-old Dirk(!) Tarman Jr. noticed a black BMW blocking a portion of his driveway during the monthly summertime event, so called to have the vehicle towed. That didn't sit well with the four guys who'd ridden to the controversy-laden street fair in the vehicle. They knocked on Tarman's door and demanded to know where the BMW went.

When he said it was towed, fisticuffs ensued, and wound up inside Tarman's house, where he grabbed a cordless drill and swung at 24-year-old Marcus Forest-Cooper, striking him in the arm "possibly with the drill bit," the release says.

(The incident got a more dramatic retelling at a meeting of the city's Gang Violence Task Force this morning, when one officer described how "someone ended up with a drill through their hand." That, apparently, didn't happen.)

The altercation, or one like it, was perhaps inevitable. Staffers with the city's Office of Neighborhood Involvement have worked in recent months to tabulate various breaches of city code that occur at the boisterous street fair, and poorly parked vehicles are always in evidence. In June, workers took special care to note, a KATU news van was even seen blocking a resident's driveway.